PFD & ND loosing connection

[D-AINR]

Hello,

since two days - like always, I didn't change anthing - my PFD & ND looses its connection to the FMGS server after a few seconds.
They pop up after a start or restart, showing the expected content, are "connected" and green in the FMGS-Server Window and then get red and "not connected" after a few seconds. You can repeat that as many times you want.

Fun Fact 1:
It was working for weeks on the same computer wothout any issues. Two days ago it started after a restart.
The PC is just handling these two displays and even it's a quite small CPU (i3) the CPU load is never > 65% and RAM is around 50%

Fun Fact 2:
I've installed the two dispalys directly on my FMGMS PC adn there is the same issue, except here just one display is affected and the other one is toggling between "connected" and "not connected"

Fun Fact 3:
Installing FMGS on my office workstation with just PFD & ND it works as it should

Summary:
Everything looks like a performance and/or connection issue on the client computer but I don't know where to search for!?
The really strange thing is - it worked from that small client computer even which much higher load (FPD, ND, EWD, SD, DDRMI, STBY_Horizon, WideFSClient & Skalarki Profiler) without any problems for weeks of testing. The CPU load was then always about 95% - but it worked.

Of course I could do a fresh Windows install from the scratch on that computer, but I really would like to find out what the reason for such an issue might be.
So, any help is welcome!

kind regards
Robert

[jeehell]

Check antivirus and firewalls. If it happened after a reboot, it could be some windows update has been installed.

[D-AINR]

Hi Jean Luc,
I forgot to mention:

• All my sim PC's are in a seperate VLAN, not allowed to communicate to the outside (except to P3D for licensing and Updates of known software products)

• Windows Updates are comming from my internal WSUS server and have to be approved for the group of sim PC's. The last patch-day was on the 15. of April.

• Windows Firewall & Windows Defender are deactivated by group policy and/or scripts. There is no additional virusscanner installed

So an unknown change is quite unlikely.
Because I've no glue whats going on, I will trace the network traffic between the FMGS-Server an the client with PFD & ND. Any hints what I've to serch for?
Or is there a thought of deugging mode which I could activate?

kind regards
Robert

[D-AINR]

New Update I:

There seems to be a "weird phenomenon" in a Windows 11 update. After I had no other idea, I simply completely reinstalled the small PC yesterday.
Lo and behold - PFD & ND for the captain side are running reliably so far.
I will now activate the group policy to allow Windows access to the local update repository. Then we'll see...
If anyone has a similar problem, I'll post my installation order here.
Please note: I deactivate almost all Windows security features. Please only do it if you know what you are doing! For me, a central firewall and an intrusion prevention system ensure security in the internal network.

Code: Select all

Fresh install Windows 11 Pro / Version: 22H2 / Build: 22621.525
RDP access activated
PC renamed according my name scheme
added to domain
added simuser to loacal admin group
configured autologon for simuser
Firewall disabled (Powershell Script)
Windows Defender disabled
User Account Control (UAC) disabled (Powershell Script)
installed Firefox
installed TightVNC Server as service
Windows activated
removed/deactivated unwanted items in Autostart
installed JeeHell B61.3.9
	(P3D v6.0 tagged, PFD Captain side, ND PFD Captain side, FSUIPC Support)
	configured P3D Server and FMGS Server, configured WX Radar path & EGPWS output path
Modified "Cold & Dark Link" to run "as Administrator"

[D-AINR]

Update II:

After the updates have been installed the new installation was still running fine - at my office room beside my desk.
I carried then the computer to the simulator room pluged it in, started everything, adjusted the size of PFD & ND according the screen size in the cockpit, did another restart and again both dispalys lost their connection.

I've than changed thet network-card, changed the switch with no success.

Then I brought the comupter back to my office - where it was running fine, but the issue persists.
So I accepted that there must be something wrong with Windows 11 - at least on that small, quite old machine.
So I decided to do an another fresh installation using Windows 10.

Same procedure, scripted installation was running thrue quite fast and both displays where running smooth.
Than I copied the now saved *.ini files to the new installed system, an started FMGS again and the displays lost there connection again.
I deleted the ini files and everything was ok.

Conclusion:
My old Dell Optiplex 790 which has enough power to drive at least one cockpit side has an embedded Intel graphic card.
Theese card seems to be unable to run the two displays in an appropriate size for a real cockpit. Even the card can operate a display - in my case - with a resolution of 1920 x 1080.
It seems to be just PFD & ND are affected. The same computer can display EWD, SD, STBY_Horizon, DDRMI and one MCDU on a second screen without any problems.
I culd also reproduce the same issue on a Intel i7-4770 which has also an integrated graphic device. The screen for PFD & ND connected to the internal device fails, connected to a quite old NVIDIA card runs smooth.

Based on these experiences, I would tend not to use integrated Intel graphics cards for FMGS.
Can anyone confirm these experiences or am I an isolated case?

kind regards
Robert

[D-AINR]

No idea about that strange issue?
I have now a dedicated Intel i7 2600S with 8GB RAM for the PFD an it does not connect properbly in a resolution of 600x600.
At 300x300 it runs without any issue. The CPU load is never > 20% the RAM use is always ~35%.
Does anybody hve7had this issue an can helpt me here?
What are the minimum hardware requrements for driving PFD/ND?
Any idea is welcome!

[balu69]

I have never the complexity of your SIM or the problem and it probably doesn't lead to your solution.
Nevertheless, the note that the network profile must be set to “Private” and not “Public” on all devices.
Good luck

[D-AINR]

Hi Stephan,

thanks for your thoughts - but the Network-Profile is irrelevant since the Windows firewall is disabled.
And the real funny thing is it has to do with the size of the PFD and ND Display.
If set to 300x300 it works like it should, whe set in the ini file to something > 450x450 (I need ~600x600) it connects for a short time and the swiotches foto disconnet (in the FMGS connection viewer). After a few minutes the connection comes back for some seconds may be.
From my workstation and/or a cheap quite old laptop it works perfect.

Don't understand me wrong (addressed to all): This is everything then a major issue, but I would like to understand whats going on there.
My plan is to have a bunch of small PC's for dedicated funktions (i.e. one for CPT side which does PFD, ND and Pedals/Sidestick for that side, the same for the FO side.
If this doesn't work or is not a good idea I would like to that and idealy get a glue why.

[jeehell]

Some chipsets probably don't handle well opengl, it's not a problem with power itself but hardware/drivers. Also maybe at 600x600 it overlaps to another screen or is outside screen area?